On Nov. 23, the Fordham men’s water polo team won its fifth consecutive Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference (MAWPC) championship. On Dec. 5, they enter the quarterfinals of the NCAA championship fourth-seeded, in competition for the national title, a feat no team outside of California has ever accomplished before.
The MAWPC victory against George Washington University landed the team in the Fordham history books yet again, as it was the first time the team had taken home the conference title five times. The win granted the Rams an automatic bid to the national tournament.
Brian Bacharach was named water polo’s head coach in May of 2020. Since then, he has led the Rams to their first-ever MAWPC conference championship in 2021 and their first appearance in the NCAA championship in 2023. The 2024 season was described by The Wall Street Journal as possibly the greatest story in college sports. The Rams went undefeated until their final match in the NCAA championship semifinals, closing out the season with a 32-1 overall record for a nearly undefeated run.
“I knew they had been through those ups and downs. They had been through those tough moments and knew how to come out on the other side.” Brian Bacharach, Water Polo Head Coach
“There was a lot of confidence going into that 2024 championship,” Bacharach said. “I knew they had been through those ups and downs. They had been through those tough moments and knew how to come out on the other side.”
The close of the 2024 season saw eight players graduate. Luca Silvestri, Gabelli Graduate School of Business (GGSB) ’26, was one of those seniors before he committed to playing a fifth year of eligibility. He leads the team as one of three captains and was named the MVP of the MAWPC championship game after scoring three times, with seven overall goals in the tournament.
The 2025 season welcomed a young team with a new batch of players, approximately the same amount as the departed group from the previous season.
“I just want to bring in as much talent as I can and try to fit and mold that group into what maximizes their strengths and minimizes their weaknesses.” Brian Bacharach, Water Polo Head Coach
“These new guys, since the first moment, they were willing to work hard to step into our culture,” Silvestri said.
As the MAWPC All-Conference Team was announced, Fordham’s younger players led the charge. Second-year player Andras Toth, Gabelli School of Business at Rose Hill (GSBRH) ’28, was named MAWPC Most Valuable Player; Alessandro Salipante, GSBRH ’29, earned the MAWPC Rookie of the Year award and Luca Provenziani, Fordham College at Rose Hill ’28, earned First Team honors alongside Toth.
Bacharach’s own name was featured alongside his players. He was awarded Coach of the Year for the fifth consecutive season.
“I recruit talent and I’ve done that since the day I started getting involved in recruiting here. I want as much talent on my roster as I possibly can get,” Bacharach said. “Some coaches recruit what I would call fit for their system … to fit their style that they like to play. I’ve never been that type of coach. … I just want to bring in as much talent as I can and try to fit and mold that group into what maximizes their strengths and minimizes their weaknesses.”
Silvestri attributes their success as a team to the players’ diverse origins. Bacharach has recruited an overwhelmingly international roster, with most players hailing from outside the United States. Silvestri, Salipante and Provenziani are three of the team’s five Italian players, while Toth is one of four players from Hungary. Others come from Malta, South Africa, Germany and Greece — a global market that Silvestri believes strengthens the team’s chemistry and performance.
“Every country, in terms of water polo playing style, has a specific characteristic that is basically the strength of that country,” Silvestri said. “If you put all these cultures together, the final result is going to be a team with different strengths and not only one strength. Our coaching staff has done a great job in the past year and is doing a great job this year to pull all these strengths together.”
Minimizing weaknesses is the next step following the conference championship, according to Bacharach.
“I know we’re talented, I know we’ve got the ability to do it, but you never know what’s going to happen until you get into it,” Bacharach said. “We didn’t play our absolute best, especially on the offensive end. We made a lot of mistakes that were kind of uncharacteristic of us.”
Bacharach credited the small group of seniors for stabilizing the playing field for the team.
The Rams are familiar with the Spartans’ playing style, having closely beaten them earlier in the season with a tie-breaking goal by Toth in the final two minutes of the game.
“Those guys settled things,” Bacharach said.
The Rams find themselves in the same position they were last year: headed to the quarterfinals to play against a great team. San Jose State University has one of the best defenses, but the Rams’ striking offense, however challenging, has the capability to counteract it, Bacharach said.
The Rams are familiar with the Spartans’ playing style, having closely beaten them earlier in the season with a tie-breaking goal by Toth in the final two minutes of the game. As the Rams prepare for another close match-up, Bacharach said their focus extends beyond physical play.
“We have a goal of winning a national championship and doing that from the East Coast, in our sport, has never been done.” Brian Bacharach, Water Polo Head Coach
“A lot of it’s going to be about emotions, too. I could see the nerves in our guys when we were playing in this conference championship, especially our young guys,” Bacharach said. “So to me, just talking about that and not becoming overcome by the moment. If you do make a mistake, moving on from it and allowing yourself to have those nerves and to ultimately fight through it and be stronger on the other side as a result of it.”
In the event that the Rams advance to the semifinals, they will be in another familiar spot in the semifinals: facing off against the University of Southern California Trojans. The Rams lost to the West Coast powerhouse in the 2024 NCAA championship semifinals in overtime. The Trojans currently stand as the number one seed in the 2025 tournament.
“We have a goal of winning a national championship and doing that from the East Coast, in our sport, has never been done,” Bacharach said.
A position in the NCAA championship finals would be the first for any water polo team outside of California. The Rams enter the tournament with a 25-3 overall record.
The NCAA Water Polo Championship tournament will take place at Stanford University from Dec. 5 to 7.
